The Kitchen Community Appoints Former Teach For America Executive Sean VanBerschot as President

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Joan Haug, now Chief Operating Officer of TKC, selected VanBerschot after leading the organization as President

The Kitchen Community believes in community through food where every student is connected to real food and is empowered to make healthier food choices.

Boulder, Colo. (PRWEB)October 12, 2015

The Kitchen Community CEO and Co-Founder Kimbal Musk today announced changes to the organization’s executive team to further support rapid expansion of Learning Gardens in schools across the United States.

Sean VanBerschot is now President of TKC. He will join Kimbal in continuing to build strategic relationships, funding partners and community engagement while focusing on regional expansion across America. Prior to joining TKC, Sean was the Executive Director of Teach For America – Colorado. Under Sean’s leadership, the Colorado corps grew to 235 active corps members in six districts and more than 80 schools. He is a 2013 Livingston Fellow and 2007 Center for Progressive Leader Fellow with a Masters in Teaching from Western New Mexico University and a Bachelors in History from the University of Illinois.

Joan Haug, who led TKC as President for two years, will now serve as Chief Operating Officer. Under Joan’s leadership, TKC started with a few dozen Learning Gardens in Colorado and Chicago and has grown to nearly 250 Learning Gardens in four major national regions impacting 140,000 students daily. Notably, TKC now operates hundreds of Learning Gardens in two of the nation’s largest school districts: Chicago Public Schools and Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). As COO, Joan will be able to focus her efforts squarely on developing regional partnerships; supporting regions in building hundreds of more high quality, beautiful, outdoor Learning Garden classrooms; and sustaining education outreach initiatives to keep school communities thriving.

This shift in TKC leadership will enable the team to make an even bigger impact by building hundreds, possibly thousands, of Learning Gardens in schoolyards across America. The organization believes in community through food where every student is connected to real food and is empowered to make healthier food choices.

About The Kitchen Community
The Kitchen Community is a 501c3 nonprofit organization co-founded by Kimbal Musk and Hugo Matheson in 2011 with the mission of community through food. Everyday over 140,000 students have access to nearly 250 Learning Gardens in schools around the country. Learning Gardens are outdoor classrooms and experiential play-spaces that connect kids to real food and empower them to make healthier food choices. They are designed to be a place where students want to learn and teachers want to teach. Learning Gardens are in some of the largest school districts in the nation, including Chicago Public Schools, Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and Denver Public Schools. For more information, please visit http://tkc.org and follow on Twitter @TheKitchenComm.